


Sunrises

by Amemait



Category: Stargate (1994), Stargate SG-1
Genre: GFY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-10
Updated: 2013-07-10
Packaged: 2017-12-18 07:21:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/877142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amemait/pseuds/Amemait
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So it's almost a different life for some, and it's not for others, but it's still a different day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunrises

One day, when she was a little girl, the woman whom her father had once wanted to marry gave her a smile, and hoisted the child onto her knee, and whispered a secret. A future that might not happen, a maybe that could exist.  
“Sweet child, a choice.”  
Sha’uri looked up at the woman with wide eyes and willed herself to remember every word.  
“You may have love for yourself, and freedom for all our people. But when they come and your husband leads them to another place, you must let him go, and you must let yourself die.  
“Or, you may have love, and a long life, and many children.”  
“And our people?”  
The woman’s eyes gave the answer.  
She died three sunsrises later.  
\--  
When he came back from the trip, the first thing he did was announce himself re-retired. He handed in his official resignation to General West, who took it without a word.  
The second thing he did was to book himself a trip to Egypt.  
The third thing was to return Catherine’s necklace to her, and then tell her what had happened. And then he had taken her out to dinner, and after they returned to her place for a nightcap, he told her what really happened.  
The fourth thing he did was go out to a sombre party with the remains of the team who’d gone through with him. They raised a silent glass to the children, and to Daniel and his new bride.  
The next day, slightly hungover, he signed the divorce papers his wife had served him, and helped her go through the record collection.  
The day after she’d moved out, he bought a telescope.  
Egypt was hot, but not as hot as that other planet had been. He even went to the first Abydos, and as the sun set he unpacked his new telescope, the only thing he’d brought with him aside from some clothes and a single book.  
He ate a chocolate bar, and trained the sights onto the right set of constellations, and wondered how many years it would be before the light from the explosion would reach Earth, and if they’d have powerful enough telescopes to watch it by then.  
\--  
Catherine had already read the official version, so when Colonel O’Neill arrived at her door, she accepted the necklace and waited for him to leave. But he seemed to want to insist on leading her back inside and have her sit while he gave her a verbal report, his eyes fixed somewhere above her head. She’d been done with crying when she read the report, but to hear so much of it repeated back to her in a voice that bordered on the unemotional was almost unbearable.  
And then, of all things, he took her out for a meal, to the sort of restaurant she’d always dreamed of being taken to by-  
But that was in the past now, another man she’d cared for (loved, but in a different way; loved passionately, not the slightly-grandmotherly feelings she had for Daniel), another man killed by the Gate of Heaven, taken from her.  
He took her out for a meal, like he was trying to wine and dine her. She knew about him, of course; base scuttlebutt didn’t leave her much out of the loop, and she’d asked around. So they didn’t talk about love, and they didn’t talk about children, and because they weren’t secure there they didn’t talk about anything even remotely classified.  
They returned to her house, and he let himself in behind her, locking the doors and then going over every inch of the house for anything resembling a bug. She let him, because even she was a little paranoid.  
And then he nodded, and turned to her, looked her right in the eye, and started speaking, alternating words between Slang-Arabic and German, throwing in spots of French, and a tiny smattering of gutter Russian and Mexican-Spanish.  
She sat down to listen, and when he’d finished, he looked at her expectantly. She drew in a deep, shaky breath, and responded carefully.  
“So then, safe?”  
“Alive, well, married.”  
She nodded. This was indeed a kindness that he was giving her. She knew it wasn’t in the report, knew that everybody else believed Daniel Jackson dead, a whole planet destroyed, knew that he could very well be risking his life to tell her this.  
“My thanks.”  
“Unnecessary.”  
He meant it, too. She nodded again, reached up to hug him gently. He accepted the hug with a surprising amount of grace.  
“My thanks anyway.”  
She saw him to the door, then went to bed.  
\--  
It was unfair, but a case of chicken pox – chicken pox! That was a thing for kids! – meant that she couldn’t go with them. Wasn’t allowed to take that step through the Gate of Hea- the StarGate, onto another planet.  
She’d designed the computer! She’d done theoretics after theoretics! She’d identified long ago that the first six symbols were constellations! It wasn’t fair!  
And now some stupid archaeologist had taken her place on the team, just because he’d figured out what the final symbol to make the Gate work was. It was hardly her fault that she didn’t know what the Ancient Egyptian symbol for Earth was – she simply hadn’t had the time to learn the old language, she’d been far too busy just trying to figure out how to power the damn circle.  
Of course, that archaeologist had gotten himself killed on that faraway planet, but that was a civilian for you. She would have done much better, she knew she would have.  
Though now, she thought ruefully, wincing as she shifted and tried not to scratch, she had plenty of time to learn. Although if the Program really were being shut down, then there really wasn’t any point.  
Next time, Sam decided viciously, she was just going to try reversing the polarity of the neutron flow and have done with it.  
\--  
He really liked it on Earth. Really, really liked it. For starters, there was a 90% less chance of getting sand clogging up his gun. There was an even lesser chance of him being taken prisoner and then made to kneel so that somebody they all thought would be on their side could kill them all.  
Better yet, girls on this planet were less into the geeky guys, and weren’t about to be sold off as chattel to a new husband. That, he felt, had been a serious insult to women. His mother and aunts and sisters would have been completely outraged over what’d happened with Sha’uri.  
Yeah, Kawalsky thought, leaning back against the tree and smelling the grass around him. His tent was in the corner, and he had s’mores planned for tonight.  
It was good to be back.  
\--  
Daniel was not the kind of person who would take advantage. Ever. And he made that abundantly clear to his new bride.  
But she hugged him and reassured him, and it was so tempting-  
But he went to speak with Kusaf anyway. At first, the old man was affronted, but then he softened.  
“You speak of choice, Dan’yel,” he said kindly. “Sha’uri likes you. She would choose you, even had I not given her to you.”  
“A woman is not property to be given,” Daniel replied, fighting the urge to clean his glasses nervously.  
“In the land you come from? Perhaps not. Dan’yel, you are from another place. Your world is not our world. But if you are so concerned, might I suggest that you ask Sha’uri yourself?”  
And so he returned to his house, and found his wife making bread.  
“Dan’yel,” she greeted, and her smile lit up his heart.  
“Sha’uri,” he whispered. “If you had the choice, if you could choose between me, and anyone else in this world, whom would you choose?”  
“I would choose you, of course, my husband.”  
Her answer was simple, but she did not meet his eyes.  
“Sha’uri, look at me.”  
She looked up, and Daniel tried again.  
“Sha’uri, you have the right to refuse me. You have the right to deny me. I would not make you choose me, and I wish only the truth. You are free, entirely.”  
She hesitated, then picked up the bread she was making. She held out the dough to him, then nodded once, as though she were reaffirming a decision long-since made.  
“This. It needs heat. It needs ingredients. It has a creation, a purpose, and an ending. But to be made well, it must be made with love. And do I not make this food for you exceptionally well?”  
Daniel smiled and pulled her into a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Rating: Uhhh... PG? -is guessing-  
> Disclaimer: I hold no ownership of any part of the Stargate Franchise, in any way, shape, or form. This is just for the sheer fun of it.  
> Spoiler warnings: Movie, and sometime early in one of the series for Catherine's part.  
> Notes: Thanks to catherinehaines for the title. Apparently, I have no Stargate icon. Darn.  
> Story warnings: None


End file.
